It is no surprise to any one of us that time marches on…last year, after Hampton lost its last two WWII veterans, Clarence Thornton at 101 and Tom Gaines at 99, we dedicated our program to Hampton residents’ remembrances of the Second World War, a conflict that ended nearly 79 years ago. This year, the parade committee decided that we would focus on the Korean War.

At the end of WWII, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Korea at the 38th Parallel and to share responsibility for the task of removing all Japanese troops. Japan had occupied all of Korea for more than a decade. By 1950, though, China and the Soviet Union decided to support the North Koreans and attempt to unify the divided country into the Communist Bloc. Only the United States stood in the way of their plan.

A bloody three-year war ensued, and more than 3 million people died with hundreds of thousands more casualties. Often called the “Forgotten War,” the Korean conflict ended in July of 1953 when North Korea, China, the Soviet Union and the United States agreed to a permanently divided Korea. South Korea never agreed to the condition of a permanently divided country and refused to sign the Treaty, that is why the Korean War is often said to have not officially ended.

Nearly 20 Hampton residents served during the Korean War, only three, Bob Gilroy, George Miller and John Yanouzas are still with us. The Parade committee thought it would be fitting this year to dedicate our program to the courageous men and women who were willing to risk their lives and serve their country during the Korean War more than 70 years ago. The stories you are about to hear are the words and thoughts and excerpts from interviews and speeches of some of our Hampton neighbors who served during that time.

We begin our story with the reminiscences of Korean War era veteran and resident of Hampton for over 80 years George Miller. I served in the Navy from 1952 until 1955. If you volunteered before you turned 18, you would serve for only three years instead of four. So I enlisted right after high school. My ship was part of the Atlantic Fleet which transported cargo from Norfolk, Virginia to England and Casa Blanca. As Quarter Master, I kept the ship’s logs and served as a look-out. I would like to share the story of how I once saved the USS Whitley, aka 91. One night when we were steaming in the fog along the coast of England heading for Portsmouth, the look-out on the flying bridge hollered down the voice tube that he couldn’t see anything because of the fog and that he needed lens paper to clean his binoculars. I climbed up to give it to him. It was two o’clock in the morning, and when I returned, the Lieutenant placed me on report for a Captain’s Mast, which is like a trial, because I didn’t salute him and hadn’t requested permission to leave the pilot house. Since the ships run in the dark, he was writing up the report with a flashlight, his back to the bow of the ship, when the Captain slipped in a side door and into the Captain’s seat. All of a sudden I saw a huge oil tanker across our bow. I hollered — there’s traffic on the starboard bow! The Captain ordered all engines to reverse, a hard-rudder to the portside, all out flank speed, and we turned the ship and saved it from a collision. Later at the Captain’s Mast, he, of course, had to support his officer, and gave me two hours of extra duty, “but,” he said, “I think the wrong man’s on trial here”.

Bob Gilroy, one of our surviving veterans of the Korean War, was drafted from Columbia Law School in 1953. He served in the 7th Cavalry regiment, an infantry company of the Army. He was sent to Japan, first to the northernmost island and then south where he was the administrator for the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Bob relayed that, because he was “in charge”, he was, as he put it, “left alone”, and therefore describes his experience as a “peaceful period”. After his service, he returned to finish his degree at Columbia University, and after graduating, practiced law.

John Yanouzas is one of our last three surviving veterans of the Korean War. Drafted in 1951, he served until 1953 with the 43rd Division of the New England National Guard, the 3rd battalion of the 102nd infantry regiment. He received his basic training at Camp Pickett, and wondered if the name had been changed. It has, to Fort Barfoot, after a World War II hero. My father was selected for the medical company where he learned to make splints from branches, and after completing the 8th training session, he expected to be deployed to Korea. “I still remember the day that we were told the division was going to Germany instead,” he recalled, “What a relief.” Stationed in Augsburg, Bavaria at the Sheridan Kaserne, German barracks during World War II, my father was responsible for the transportation of soldiers to the infirmary. When he first arrived, Germany was an occupied country; toward the end of his tour, West Germany joined the allied forces. “It made a difference in their attitude toward Americans,” he said. A resident of Hampton for over 50 years, my father returned to Germany to visit the places important to him, and the important places he had not seen when he was stationed there — Dachau and Auschwitz. (read by daughter Georgette Yanouzas)

Jim Estabrooks served during the Korean War in the Army. Like many members of our family, my uncle Jim was born and raised in Hampton. Another one of our relatives was Leslie Jewett, the town’s only casualty of World War II, for whom our American Legion Post is named. Leslie Jewett would perish on Normandy Beach eight years prior my Uncle Jim’s military service. (read by nephew Alan Freeman)

With the humor familiar to all who knew him, Fred Curry said of his time in the armed forces, “I was put on ice”. Serving during the Korean War, my grandfather was part of operation DEW Line, the Distant Early Warning system of radar stations in the Arctic established for early detection of Soviet activity. A member of UConn’s ROTC program, my grandfather’s service started in 1951 with the awarding of his diploma and the words, “Congratulations Lieutenant Curry”. After basic training at Fort Lee, and fourteen days dodging ice bergs, he arrived in Greenland, where he served as Quarter Master for the 536 Corps, and Commander of the platoon, overseeing supplies and supply ships. He was also responsible for supplying his troops with entertainment, a precursor to his career at UConn in educational television production. The most rewarding aspect of his service? Acceptance by the native people, the Inuits, known at the time as, Eskimos. The most exciting? A mission to the North Pole, which included an Arctic blizzard and venturing into an ice berg. Here in Hampton, my grandfather was a founder of the Senior’s Organization, a member of the Little River Grange barbershop quartet, played leading roles on Hampton’s stage, revived the American Legion Post #106, and served as Master of Ceremonies for several Memorial Days. (read by grandson Brewster Curry, USAF)

Alfred Vargas Jr. served in the Navy during the Korean War, stationed in Puerto Rico and in the North Pole. He grew up on the Vargas farm here in Hampton, which his father, Alfred, Sr., discovered in 1936 when the connecting rod on his truck broke while he was descending East Old Route 6, which was Route 6 at the time. It was the middle of a winter’s night, and he found refuge in the farmhouse in the valley. He would later farm there, expand the dairy operation, and with his wife, Addie, raise 16 children.

Felix Winters was drafted after graduating from college, with orders for the Army Officer Candidate School in preparation for the combat zone. He and my mother delayed their wedding, “Infantry lieutenants lead the way” he said, and he didn’t want to make my mother a widow. After boot camp and mortar training, an opportunity to teach English commands to Puerto Rican troops presented itself to teachers. He would be among those who considered themselves “the lucky ones”. My parents married during my father’s furlough and spent the first years of their lives together in Puerto Rico, where my father trained the recruits of the 65th Regiment, also known as the Boinquenos, who served in World War I, World War II and the Korean War so valiantly that in 1951, General MacArthur wrote “they are writing a brilliant record of heroism in battle”. However the following year, a Commander from the mainland stripped them of their Officers Corps, their name, their diet, their language, and their mustaches, in short, their identity, and their dignity. Their response led to the largest court martial of the Korean War, which was subsequently investigated, the decision reversed, and the soldiers exonerated, pardoned and liberated from their sentence of 18 years of hard labor. But it wasn’t until 2016 that the Borinquenos were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for their service in the armed forces of the United States. (read by daughter Dayna McDermott Arriola)

Jim Ryan served in the Army during the Korean War, stationed in France. After his service, he graduated, and taught, at Loras College, later moving to New York City and studying design at Columbia University. He enjoyed a successful career as a scenic designer for CBS and later still, as the business manager for United Scenic Artists, the national labor union and professional organization for designers, artists, and craftspeople in the entertainment industries of stage and of film. After retiring, he came to Hampton where he was a presence at Town Meetings and on Main Street, volunteering at Fletcher Memorial Library and serving as Chairman of The Hampton Gazette.

Phil Russell served in the Army during the Korean War, voluntarily enlisting two years after he graduated from high school when he was sent to Boot Camp at Fort Dix. He served as a radio operator as part of the communications personnel in Korea, having received his training in Signal School at Fort Gordon, now known as Fort Eisenhower. During the Flood of 1955, his family watched as the Farmington River swept their house away, and with it, all of the letters and photographs my father sent his family from Korea. His decorations included the Good Conduct and National Defense Service Medals. After the war, he built a home in Hampton, raised a family, and went to college all at the same time. For 30 years he worked for the State of Connecticut, retiring after 25 years as a Conservation Officer with the Department of Environmental Protection. My father was very involved with Hampton’s American Legion Post, a presence in our parade and a speaker at our ceremonies. (read by son John Russell)

Maurice Edwards served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War and in the Reserves for another ten years. Born and raised on the family farm on Edwards Road, Maurice would turn a large portion of the property into a popular camp, and 60 acres of the farm would become the Maurice and Rita Edwards Preserve, which the Town acquired in 2013 to extend Goodwin Forest.

Warren Stone served in the Army during the Korean War and later in the Reserves, enlisting in 1950 and discharged in1956. He returned to Hampton where he served as Town Treasurer and was the proprietor of the legendary “Pine Acres Tree Farm”. Warren’s generosity was also legendary, and the whole town reaped its benefits. Named Citizen of the Year in 2007, Warren donated time, expertise, and funds to several town institutions, including the library, the seniors’ organization, the Historical Society, Little River Grange, and Trail Wood. As Wendell Davis aptly put it, “The town lives because of able, knowledgeable, caring people like Warren Stone.”

Roger Herriman was a veteran of the Army during the Korean War. After his military service, he studied at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. An accomplished pianist, he was an accompanist in New York City where he established a talent agency representing classical musicians. Here in Hampton, his neighbors were blessed with the beauty of his spectacular gift whenever he played the piano with the windows open.

Knowing that he would be drafted and recruited into the Army soon after graduation, Jim Rodriguez instead enlisted in the Air Force during the Korean War when he was still a teenager. He attended engine school and was promoted to corporal, responsible for performing inspections on all mechanical aspects of an airplane, training which would serve him well in the role many were most familiar with, for although he served in several public capacities, including Selectman, most came to know him at the Hampton Hill Garage. He was also assigned top secret clearance and stationed in the Sahara Desert, where the United States stockpiled atomic bombs in underground bunkers. My father and his crew were assigned the task of refueling the B-47s transporting the bombs from the States to the Sahara, which entailed an airborne rendezvous with the two planes, one with the fuel, the other with the bomb, flying at the same speed to connect the fuel hose, often at night. He saw an actual atomic bomb only once, “nestled in the belly of the plane like a sleeping goliath”. Delivering the Memorial Day Address in 1987, my father expressed this hope, “I have been blessed with four grandsons, and I want them to grow in peace, to roam the hills and valleys of their homeland, and to be able to fish in the streams that their grandfather did…and if it be necessary, to have the conviction of purpose to do what must be done to preserve that which they must inherit.” (read by son John Rodriguez)

John Flynn served in the Air Force where he was a tail gunner in the Korean War. After his service, he earned a doctorate in education and was Chairman of the Department of Educational Psychology at UConn, publishing numerous texts in his field. After retiring, he became a consultant with the Federal Department of Justice, taught online classes and secured grants for universities, and located funding opportunities for Hampton, where he resided for many years. Dr. Flynn offered expert testimony in statistical data analysis for the State in the 1996 Sheff versus O’Neill Connecticut Supreme Court case, which resulted in the landmark decision for civil rights and equity in education.

Hector John Burelle served in the Army during the Korean War, stationed in Germany. After his military service, he returned home to Hampton where he was raised on Burelle’s Dairy Farm on Pudding Hill, and where he and his wife Joan raised their eight children, all of whom continued to pitch in, and enjoy life, on the family farm. He and his brother Francis also started a construction company, and a few years later, established Burelle Brothers Saw Mill. Mr. Burelle also served as the town’s Fire Marshal and as First Selectman.

Gordon Hansen served in the Army for four years, two on active duty in Korea. He was drafted “right off the streets of New York,” he said, “It was like they emptied out one whole apartment building in the Bronx…we could have opened a deli!” Of course, an interview without humor wouldn’t be Gordon’s, thus he shared the story reported in several newspapers, including the military’s “Stars & Stripes”, of three army privates, Gordon and his buddies Irwin and Freddy, whose request to the Broadway Association for a street sign to remind them of home was granted, with a photograph to prove it – the West 24th Times Square sign displayed directly underneath another sign announcing the number of kilometers to specific locales in Korea, in other words, disclosing the soldiers’ precise location! Not all stories were humorous. Gordon spoke of his assignment on the front lines where he spent Christmas scraping snow off his holiday meal, and where it was so dark one could cross enemy lines and not even know it, and where he dispelled the warning that the front lines were the worst with the words: “those guys really took care of each other”. A successful business man, Gordon was a prominent citizen of Hampton, holding leading roles on boards, in organizations, on stage, in politics, and on Memorial Day, where he served as Grand Marshal and delivered three addresses, reminding us: “The collective breadth and depth of our experiences, the sheer weight of the collective number of experiences assembled here together, provide the most powerful and enduring memorial. So before you leave, turn around and thank your friends and neighbors for being here, for remembering, for making this truly a Memorial Day”.